Red Devils have been scouting the Portugal international of late.
Sporting Lisbon are prepared to give Manchester United first option on coveted defensive midfielder William Carvalho at the end of this season if the Premier League champions agree to loan them wide man Luis Nani in the January transfer window, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
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The Portuguese giants are said to be desperate to re-sign Nani, seven years after the mercurial winger first left Lisbon to move to Old Trafford for 25.5m euros, with Sporting keen to first take the Portugal international on a six-month loan deal, before then signing the player on a permanent contract at the end of this campaign.
Nani himself is understood to be open to the thought of returning home this month and playing again for his boyhood club, although only on the condition that Sporting pay him the same bumper salary that he currently earns at the Theatre of Dreams.
However, the stumbling block for Sporting remains being able to convince United head coach David Moyes to part company with Nani in January at a time when the Scot is already without a number of his other wide men.
And that is why Sporting are proposing this arrangement whereby United get first refusal on Carvalho next summer.